Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The object of the invention is a method for treating a subscriber list in the subscriber identity module (SIM) of a mobile station, a subscriber identity module, and a mobile station. With a subscriber list we mean a xe2x80x9ctelephone directoryxe2x80x9d comprising subscriber identifiers with names and corresponding data attached to them. Here a subscriber identifier is primarily a telephone number, a subscriber number relating to data services, or it can contain data service control identifiers in addition to the subscriber number. Further a subscriber identifier can be conceived as subscriber identifiers containing in addition to numbers also other symbols and other contact addresses, such as electronic mail addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In digital mobile communication systems the user of a mobile station is identified on the basis of a subscriber identity module connected to the device. In this way calls to the user are switched to that mobile station which contains the user""s subscriber identity module. Similarly, calls taken by the user are charged to the user defined by the subscriber identity module. The subscriber identity modules can be changed from one mobile station to another, whereby the subscription used by the mobile station is determined on the basis of the subscriber identity module installed in it.
The subscriber identity module is a smart card comprising a processor (CPU, Central Processing Unit), program or read only memory (ROM), data memory (EEPROM, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) suitable for long-term storage, and read-alter storage (RAM, Random Access Memory) suitable for storage during operation. The use of a mobile station requires that a personal identity number stored in the subscriber identity module is entered in connection with the use of the mobile station, usually when the mobile station""s power is switched on. Also other information relating to the user can be stored in the data memory of the subscriber identity module. The subscriber identity module of the GSM system is described in detail for instance in the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standard GSM 11.11, version 5.5.0, prETS 300 977, on pages 24 to 28, 77 to 79, 90, and 97 to 100.
It is also previously known to store telephone numbers and subscriber names related to the telephone numbers in the subscriber identity module. In the subscriber identity module of GSM mobile stations said data is stored in the EEPROM memory unit where the stored data are located in elementary files (EF) and dedicated files (DF) located in a so called master file (MF). A dedicated file always contains other files, but an elementary file contains also actual data to be stored, such as telephone numbers. The elementary files and the dedicated files can further contain other elementary files and possibly also dedicated files. An elementary file comprises a header and a body part. The telephone numbers and the subscriber names are stored in the body part of the elementary files.
Further there are previously known abbreviated and fixed dialling number directories located in the subscriber identity module. The abbreviated dialling numbers are stored in the subscriber identity module""s elementary files EFADN and the fixed dialling numbers are stored in the elementary files EFFDN. The subscriber identity module is further used for storing short messages. The short-messages are stored in the elementary files EFSMS.
Fixed numbers and the names corresponding to them are stored in the records of an elementary file EFFDN in a linear form so that in a certain record one stored number corresponds to one stored name. The list is stored in that order in which the user stores the individual numbers, if no intermediate numbers are deleted. The simplified contents of the first three records of an elementary file of the subscriber identity module is shown in the enclosed table 1.
One problem in the previously known methods relates to the great length of the number list. Particularly in a mobile station/subscriber identity module which is common to several users there are stored a lot of numbers, whereby it will become difficult to treat the list.
A further problem in the known methods is that only one telephone number can be stored for each name. However, nowadays many users have several subscriptions, such as a mobile phone subscription, a fixed subscription, a data subscription, a telefax subscription, an so on, and for each of them an own subscriber identifier should be stored.
The object of the invention is to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages by creating a new solution, with the aid of which the user can easily find the required connection data, even among a large amount of stored connection identifiers.
According to one idea of the invention a directory structure is formed with the aid of a directory separator in the memory of the subscriber identity module. For instance, in that part of the record in the elementary file of the subscriber identity module which is reserved for the recipients name there is also stored a name pointing to the directory structure. Preferably the symbol xe2x80x9c/xe2x80x9d is used as the directory separator. For instance in the GSM system a xe2x80x9cnamexe2x80x9d located in the xe2x80x9cdirectoryxe2x80x9d is presented as a term xe2x80x9cdirectory/namexe2x80x9d according to the directory structure. It is also possible to use other symbols as the directory separator, for instance xe2x80x9c+xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c#xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c*xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c@xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cxc2x0xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cxc3x1xe2x80x9d, and so on.
According to the invention the user of a mobile station can handle the list of names directory by directory, where the names in a directory are preferably in an alphabetical order. An advantage of the invention is thus that a directory, which is handled in a manner according to the invention, for instance a directory with a list of names relating to a particular user contains only names used by this user, and thus it is more meaningful to scan this list of names than a list containing the numbers of several users. A further advantage of the invention is that the subscriber identity module must not necessarily control the directory structures, but the directory structure can be controlled in the mobile station.
A method according to the invention for treating subscriber data of a mobile station, whereby a subscriber identifier and a subscriber name logically related to he identifier are stored in the memory of a subscriber identity module, is characterised in that further at least one directory name logically related to said subscriber name and at least one directory separator, are stored in the memory of the subscriber identity module, whereby the separator separates said subscriber name and the directory name from each other.
A subscriber identity module comprising a memory for storing subscriber identifiers and subscriber names logically related to the identifiers, is characterised in that it further comprises means for storing at least one directory name related to said subscriber name and means for storing at least one directory separator in order to separate said subscriber name and directory name from each other.
A mobile station according to the invention, to which a subscriber identity module is related and which comprises means for storing in the subscriber identity module a subscriber identifier and a subscriber name logically related to the identifier, is characterised in that the mobile station further comprises means for storing in the subscriber identity module at least one directory name and at least one directory separator, which is logically related to said subscriber name.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims.